Karachi:Around 180 shelterless schools would be constructed under Sindh Education Reforms Programme by August 2010 in the province, Senior Minister for Education Pir Mazhar-ul-Haq told the Sindh Assembly the other day.

He said that the Education and Literacy Department has taken various measures to make the closed schools functional and according to Annual Schools Census 2008-09, about 1308 closed schools have been opened/made functional. These schools have been opened by posting freshly recruited teachers there, he added.

Moreover, Education Department was currently making recruitment of around 7,000 teachers on the need-based, school-specific, non-transferable criteria as well as providing feeder teachers to 2500 closed schools and adopting 1000 closed schools under Sindh Education Foundation to make them functional, the minister said in his written reply to a question by Humera Alwani.

Responding to a question by Saleem Khursheed Khokhar, the education minister said that around 239 schools have been denationalized in Sindh since 1984, adding, most of these denationalized educational institutes belong to Agha Khan, Memon and Christian communities.

In his response to a question by Dr. Nadeem Maqbool, he said that over 42 teachers training institutions have been functioning under the directorate of Bureau of Curriculum and Extension Wing (Sindh), Jamshoro. According to him, the purpose of the teachers training institutions is to enhance the quality of teacher education, develop research-based innovate programmes of teacher training, build capacity of educational institutions through human resource development, initiate research in teacher education and other related areas, develop alternative delivery modes of teacher training programme and assist education development in the formulation of teacher education policies/programmes.

Responding to a question by Syed Marvi Rashdi, the minister said that the Sindh government has recently established Sindh Technical Education and Vocational Technical Authority (STEVTA), adding, technical education schools were no more under the administrative control of the education department.

In his response to a question by Ram Singh Sodho Rajput, Pir Mazhar said that about 19 middle schools have been completed in Tharparkar district and these schools would be made functional as soon as the Finance Department releases the SNE and the required staff was provided.The news